Jim
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France
I loved the puzzle. FRIEND OF DOROTHY gave me a dose of nostalgia, but then, upon closer reflection on the days when closets and code-speak were necessary to stay employed and out of jail, I tapped my ruby slippers to come back to the present. Egad, the present is no Emerald City either, at the moment. There's lots of yellow brick road ahead of us.
Rebus lovers and rebus haters unite ! Use them, or not. You be you. What a show of bipartisanship ! Let's hope it's catching ! Bravo, Team Katz !
Three cheers for MINNESOTA NICE ! I am here to testify that it is a stereotype because it is true ! Just drive the freeways (and more commonly now) tollways of Dallas or Phoenix. Then go to Minneapolis and St. Paul, get on the freeways, and try your turn signal. It's like the seas part, and they invite you into their lane with a wave and smile and promise you a hot dish, dontcha know ! And now we've seen that in the face of injustice and oppression, they do not change. They are heroes. I <3 you, Minnesota !
To tell you how old I am without telling you how old I am, my answer for far too long to "that 'burning' feeling" was reflux. Get off my lawn ! Thanks for the salute to Toni Morrison, Mx. Panico ! I have read all of these selections except for JAZZ, so you have prompted me to make it my next book to read.
This is not the first time for me to register this objection. I grew up with guns. Most of my family are hunters. BBs are not toys. BB guns are weapons. We killed birds with them. A childhood friend was blinded by one. Here's a better clue: The Mama bullet said to the Papa bullet, "We're going to have a _____ !" ba-dum, tish OK, so that's not plural. It needs work, but you catch my drift. Not toys. Please.
I couldn't solve it until I finally let go of THIN MINTS as the "makeup of a sleeve," which back in the day, for me anyway, equalled one serving. I dearly love living in France now, but I do miss Thin Mints.
@HeathieJ It is heartbreaking and terrifying. I send you and your family and neighbors and community my sincere thoughts (and resistance and votes) of support and solidarity. Hugs. And yes, it is a great and well needed puzzle, Nate.
@ASD Music major and music teacher here. Both are correct and both are widely used. It depends on what language you are speaking. Solfege, sol-fa, solfège, or solfeggio.
IMMIX raised such a stir here that I decided to use it for my Wordle start word, mostly to see if it's in the Wordle dictionary. Spoiler: It is, so you don't need to try it. (It left me with almost 2,000 words to go. 😜) I still managed to get the solve in 4 which tied with the bot.
I'm not starting my new streaks until after the strike, but dang, I sure could use some puzzles to keep me from falling into despair.
I wasn’t going to do this, but now I feel compelled. I hope I can help people break free from their binary thinking on “so” vs “sol.” It’s not one or the other. It’s both, and, plus. As my colleagues in international music societies often have to remind one another, it’s just a tool, it’s not the Bible, and though I don’t subscribe to the theology implied, I do agree with the point. It’s a tool and not the culminating goal. Music is the goal. Here’s the thing. The creation of the solfege system is credited to a monk named Guido. Guido d’Arezzo, one thousand years ago. He took a hymn, Ut Queant Laxis, and used the text as a mnemonic, using the beginnings of words in the text. The relevant words: Ut, resonare, mira, famuli, labii. Or ut, re, mi, fa, sol (why not so?), la. There was no “ti.” Someone else had to come up with that. Someone else also had to come up with syllables to represent the chromatic tones. There are lots of variations depending on whom you ask. The relevant point, all of it is a tool box of mnemonics with the ultimate goal of being able to read music and sing it in tune. In some people’s tool box, si is used instead of ti to represent the leading tone to the tonic in major tonality. In MY toolbox, I use si to represent a sharpened sol. cont. in reply . . .
As a musician, may I please have the last word on sol vs so ? If you have a problem with "so," then why don't you have a problem with "do," because Guido said it was "ut." And where did "ti" come from ? Not Guido. People ! Actual musicians don't give a flip whether it is sol or so. They just want you to sing that pitch in tune ! Got it ? End of discussion.
I needed a little help (thanks, community) but I made it ! Thank you Sarah and Paolo for this challenging, fun, and satisfying puzzle !
@Vaer Retired elementary music teacher here. Yes, P&TW is the gold standard for teaching children about instrumental timbres. I have a fond memory of a precocious kindergartener walking into the music room for the first time, and upon seeing a picture of an oboe, he pointed to it and proclaimed, "It's a duck !"
@Jim Many vocal musicians, because of the nature of vocal singing and the nuances involved in singing vowels, don’t like using syllables ending with a consonant. That’s likely why we use do instead of ut, but also why they use so, or at the very least keep the “l” of sol silent. In sum, let’s stop the pedantic binary thinking of wrong and right. Sol and so are both correct, both widely used (if you haven’t seen it, you need to get out more), and are both very useful tools that lead us toward musical literacy. *Insert plagal cadence*
I was so amused to see GRODY in the puzzle, I had to use it as my Wordle start word ! [bad idea]
26A- Inadvisable Wordle start word. I took that as a challenge. Well, it DID eliminate all but 95 words. Not bad. Results ? meh Wordle 1,044 4/6 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I, for one, loved TV TAPE. It might be like one of those "that's what the kids call it these days" terms. I try to keep up. They almost always amuse me. I wonder what they call dial tones, for example. I guarantee you, whatever name they come up with will make me giggle. Thanks for the fun puzzle, Mr. Schreiber.
Mr. Lieb, I really, really enjoyed this puzzle. First, I was that kid for whom the ZAMBONI was the highlight of the game or show ! I would still dearly love to ride on one, see it up close, look underneath it. Second, you managed to include my hometown DUMAS (Texas) and the hometown of my husband, SOUTHBEND ! As we say here, chapeau !
@Shrike Since I didn't know this word and clue, I thought I would use ORALE for my Wordle start word. Not on the list, so I don't feel as bad about my ignorance of papal garb.
@Mr Mark yes, thank you. It's the light bulb moments that bring me joy, and this puzzle had many of them ! I used to be an elementary teacher, and with the littles, their light bulb moments are usually quite expressive, which for the teacher is more rewarding than gold !
@Jessie Ah. Thanks. This Boomer does his best to try to keep up, but this one got past me. I'll go lie down now.
Calling in from the Land of Double Negatives to say I loved this crossword ! Chapeau !
I loved this puzzle, James ! As a Texan, I must say, we love our Blue Bell Creamery and its contented cows from "cow heaven," Brenham, Texas. When I was a Baylor University student in the '70s, Blue Bell was not yet widely distributed. We could only buy it on the black market, which in Waco was a Frigidaire freezer in the back of the garage of a gas station. I still believe the black market Blue Bell was even creamier and more delicious than grocery store Blue Bell. Happy Wildflower Season, Texas !
27A -- HAHAHAHAHAHA ! Appeasing the pedantry from last Sunday's comments. I love it ! Everyone happy now ? Fun puzzle.
I had a real ! solving this puzzle. Thanks so much, Damon, especially for the Jeb! memories. Those were the days, when a certain party still had candidates interested in democracy.
@Michael Weiland Sol and so are both correct and they are both widely used. It's like colour and color. Tire and tyre. Yes, it always gives me a jolt when I see tyre, but it is correct and widely used. And as we music educators can be especially pedantic over such things, we have to constantly remind one another, solfa/solfège/solfeggio/whatever is JUST a TOOL for making sound from sight or sight from sound. It is a tool that gets us to the MUSIC. If you have different tools that work, by all means use them.
@Sarah f As for me, I think "to each their own" applies perfectly here. For those that like having the answers already in their brains, ready to dig out and dust off, a look up will feel like a failure. For me and the way my brain works, that feels like brain clutter. I'm more of a librarian-type who thinks, "I don't know the answer to that, but I know where to look." The satisfaction is in the finding of an answer. When it comes to the sports trivia questions (like the scoreboard questions that drive me insane), I will ALWAYS look those up. I have no interest in storing that info.
@T. Shulaise Which is correct ? "To-may-to" or "to-mah-to?"
Though a certain governor and a certain US Senator are putting the tradition to the test and may even inspire some to move to France, we Texans DO love to brag, my oh yes ! So, thanks for the 5A shout out ! Loved your puzzle, Mr. Cothan ! And because I have a song for everything, here you go, y'all ! <a href="https://youtu.be/jUapJJ56Gww?si=QjJWrSkt2PoAlVRb" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/jUapJJ56Gww?si=QjJWrSkt2PoAlVRb</a>
So, I sang La Marseillaise. Scratched head. Looked up the lyrics. That you sent me not to the second, not to the third, but to the sixth verse ! For that word !! Touché Mr. Lieberman. Touché. That's when I knew I would love this puzzle.
@Whoa Nellie It was worth losing a streak just to get this ! Chapeau !
@Amanda I have been living in France for 13 years, using my second language every day. I am also amazed by @Andrzej 's skill AND attitude ! I've tried "mots croisés" and I don't have nearly mental stamina ! Count me as one of your fans, @Andrzej !
This puzzle made me smile, so thanks for that gift, Jess and Adrian ! And speaking of gifts, you gave me the perfect gift-giving idea for the conspiracy theorists in my family. Happy Holidays ! I'm a retired elementary school teacher, so CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE brought back great memories. I miss those kids ! Finally, today I learned a new-to-me word, SAPID. So pleased was this lifelong learner with the word, he used it for his Wordle start word. (don't recommend)
@Andrzej While we're speaking of this slang, men in the military with close cropped haircuts are sometimes called "jarheads." To say, "Put a lid on that jar," means put your hat on.
It is a sign of the times when 12D appears in a crossword. It's official. We live in a voter suppressed culture.
@WR It was a real slogan and the object of much ridicule. In fact, it was this clue that helped me figure out today's Thursday trick, and it gave me a nostalgic chuckle to boot.
@suejean My poor memory: For the longest, I thought it was supposed to be ATLAS dRUGGED, and I couldn't figure out why it didn't fit.
@Andrzej Hoecakes date back to the "pioneer days" when people were headed West in their covered wagons. I'm not sure how much is truth and how much is legend, but hoecakes were cornmeal mush that were/could have been grilled on the heated blade of a hoe. There is an old song, Kansas Boys. "Come along girls, listen to my voice. Don't you never marry no Kansas boys. If you do your doom shall be, hoecakes, hominy, and sassafras tea."
"Not gonna lie. . ." is NO nAP. I don't get the correct answer yet.
@John Ezra I laughed at NO CAP. Like the old vocabulary-learning exercise, "use it three times in a sentence." Gotta keep Boomers like me in the game ! One more, and I'll have it down !
@Andrzej For me, one of the best things about moving over to this continent is I have escaped the political ads during election season ! Second best thing: I have escaped the pharmaceutical ads ! Every European should try to see a few of those so they can appreciate just how good they have it.
@Petrol It's MINNESOTA NICE. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/08/09/nx-s1-5065632/decoding-minnesota-nice-a-culture-of-kindness-gives-weight-to-words-like-weird" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/2024/08/09/nx-s1-5065632/decoding-minnesota-nice-a-culture-of-kindness-gives-weight-to-words-like-weird</a>
I had to fire up some rusty synapses in my brain for this one. It reminded me of the old television game show, Concentration. I had to try to remember behind which black spaces the missing letters were hiding. I finally got there once I gave up on R.E.M. being the band for the Blitzkrieg Bop. Thanks for the workout, Hanh Huynh !
@Jim Sorry. I just felt myself channeling Barbara of Abbott Elementary.
@JayTee Another "Boomer" here. It brought back memories of stick horses, cowboy hats, chaps, and cap guns. "Hiyo, Silver ! Away !" was probably among the first of the three-word phrases I ever spoke.
@Captain Kidnap Thanks for this. For some reason, I stubbornly thought that cattle "loe." And I grew up in the Texas Panhandle surrounded by cattle ! In my defence, we never ever said that cattle low except when we sang Away In the Manger.
To the constructor and editors: That was excellent restraint in clueing 12D.